Hesitation Point Trail is a 2.5-mile loop trail located in Brown County State Park Indiana in the United States. The trail is for more advanced hikers, as it has a significant elevation gain of nearly 1,000 feet. There are ample opportunities for birdwatching and wildflower spotting. The trail is most often used for hiking, running, and mountain biking. Dogs are welcome so long as they are leashed. The Hesitation Point Trail is at its best from Spring to Summer. There are restrooms along the trail and it also offers parking space for the hikers.
Hesitation Point Trail travels 2.5 miles from Aynes Loop all the way to Hesitation Point Overlook. Hesitation Point Trail allows hikers to have a perfect look of Brown County Park. For riders, from Aynes Loops, there is a short distance downhill until you hit ruins and debris of an ancient brick shelter. From the ruins, follow a continuous climb until you find rock gardens, roots, and switchbacks and it will take you up to Hesitation Point Overlook for a stunning view. Hiking or riding to the parking space at Hesitation Point Overlook is the most challenging one of all climbs but at the view at the cascade is worth it, it is so beautiful and you should savor it or even take some pictures to serve as a good memory. Hikers should avoid this trail during rainy seasons since the paths can be unbearable.
At the trail, hikers are served with an amazing view of raccoons, squirrels and white-tailed deer, as well as birds of prey like Goldfinches, eastern word pewee, hooded warbler, wood thrush, northern cardinals, and yellow-billed cuckoo. Brown Count State Park, where Hesitation Point Trail is located, has one of the most beautiful and rare trees in the world, Cladrastis lutea. This tree can only grow in Central Kentucky. Brown County State Park has over twenty types of beautiful wildflowers like wild geranium and bloodroot. Hikers at the Hesitation Point Trail get a perfect view of flying squirrels, red bats, and chipmunks from Brown County State Park. At Hesitation Point Trail, hikers get a view of two stunning lakes at the Brown County State Park.
Brown County, named after General Jacob Brown, is a product of three different counties, Monroe, Bartholomew and Jackson. General Brown was a warrior and hero in the 1812 war. The county has hills and woodlands that were perfect for farming. Settlers cut trees for lumber and furniture and Brown County to point of hurting the area through deforestation. Settlers eventually exhausted the area and left.
During the ice ages, the glaciers could not spread to distant areas and so the gullies were deepened and the hills made steeper. Brown County is a part of Knobstone Escarpment, an area filled with valleys and very steep hills. This is what makes the area beautiful and unique, hence attracting hikers to the area. Temperatures in Brown County are high and the area experiences snowfall in January, February, and December.
Brown County State Park, the largest park in Indiana, is in the center of the southern part of Indiana state. Brown County State Park covers 15, 776 acres of land. The park contains some of the rarest trees in the United States making the park one of the most visited parks in the United States. The park also has wildflowers that make the atmosphere in trails in Brown County Park, including Hesitation Point Trail, rustic, serene and beautiful.
All Trails. (2020). Hesitation Point to Aynes Loop. Retrieved February 17, 2020, From, https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/indiana/hesitation-point-to-aynes-loop?u=m
Hiking Project. (2020). Hesitation Point Trail. Retrieved February 17, 2020, From, https://www.hikingproject.com/trail/7040141/hesitation-point-trail
Trailforks. (2020). Hesitation Point Trail. Retrieved February 17, 2020, From, https://www.trailforks.com/trails/hesitation-point-trail/
Wikipedia. (2020). Brown County State Park. Retrieved February 17, 2020, From, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_County_State_Park
